The United States is teetering perilously close to becoming an “advanced Third World country,” according to Lawrence Hamm, a Newark activist with roots in the Civil Rights movement.

Activist Lawrence Hamm with former Morristown High School Principal Linda Murphy, at 2013 Black History Month celebration in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

That movement did not end with President Barack Obama’s election; the next chapter must be the war on poverty that Martin Luther King died for, Larry said last week, at a Black History Month celebration hosted by the Morristown Neighborhood House.

“The real issue is this: It’s not enough to simply change the complexion of the people that are in office. The whole object is to change the quality of life, to make people’s lives better. That’s what the object is. Electing people is just the tool to achieve that,” Larry says in this clip.

As a boy in Newark during the 1960s, Larry had a front-row seat to the riots that nearly tore the city apart. At 17, he was the youngest member appointed to Newark’s school board. He led protests against apartheid as a Princeton student, and went on to chair the People’s Organization for Progress and lead the state chapter of the Million Man March.

The rest of the interview is in three segments. Here is the video playlist:

PART ONE:Barack Obama, Cory Booker, Newark, and student activism at Princeton in the 1970s.

00:09:26 Long way from Emancipation Proclamation 150 years ago…
00:50:23 Still long way to go…
1:21: Symbol of hope, Barack Obama…
1:36: Proud of President…
2:00: Obama must focus on poverty…
2:35: Newark better than in ’70s…
3:13: Significant problems remain…
3:52: Newark’s problems are same as other cities…
4:01: US needs urban policy…
4:13: On Cory Booker…
4:57: A black student at Princeton
5:46: Princeton a tough school…
6:37: ‘Others took an interest in me…’
6:46: Advice to black students…
7:30: Expose high schoolers to college early
7:57: Study hard
8:26: Students should be politically aware
8:39: Eighteen-year-olds could turn around country
8:47: College should be free

Thank you for this interview. Chairman Hamm was more than informative with his deliverance on stage. Your interview captivated the man, his civil rights attributes, as well past & present thoughts on topics that affect our country.